The Editor's Corner: "What's for Dinner?"

Jane Chesnutt presents easy solutions for the age-old dinner dilemma

At about 5 o'clock every evening, our editorial office/business coordinator Suzan and her Ivan ask the same question: What's for dinner? Just one of undoubtedly millions of conversations each day on the same subject, starting on the East Coast and rolling west, time zone by time zone. But I do think Suzan and Ivan's conversation is different from the norm. I don't hear the standard "I don't know"/"What do you want?" back and forth. Instead, they always seem to have a plan. "We've got leftover chicken," I'll hear her say, "and if you'd just run out and get some lettuce…you know, we still have those lovely tomatoes."

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In your dreams, right? Most of us—and I include myself in that—are more like the couple I overheard in my local market one evening. "I'm warning you," he said as they walked in. "I don't have one idea in my head. Not one." He was definitely middle-aged, so let's do the math: 365 dinners a year for, let's say, 35 years…that comes to 12,775 dinners over a lifetime and he doesn't have one idea? I can totally relate, and I suspect you can, too.

This is why, by the way, our Month of Menus has been such an enduringly popular feature, originally in the magazine and now both there and here on the web. So has an occasional food story we typically call "Desperation Dinners," in which readers tell us their favorite go-to meals when they have no time, no ideas and a bunch of hungry kids. This is not exactly high cuisine, but it's real and doable and sometimes even funny. If you'd like to chime in about your go-to meal when all else fails, comment below. We don't think anyone can ever have too many dinner ideas. To get you started, here are a few:

"We have what we call 'Clean Out the Refrigerator Night.' It's every man, woman and child for themselves—we take out all the leftovers and try to slap them together in a way that is not totally repulsive." —Beth Squier, Stamford, CT

"A favorite at our house is tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Add a dish of fruit or some raw veggies and it's a meal."—Diana Stenner, Chippewa Falls, WI

"For a last-minute meal, I heat canned chili and add cooked instant rice and cheese. I roll it up in a tortilla for a quick, hearty burrito."—Caroline McAllister, Frederick, MD

What are your best last-minute meal ideas? Tell us in the comments section below, along with your name and location, and you might appear in our next Desperation Dinners article.